Opinion of Mississippi?

[Badger]

Not the worst state in the union imho, and i think that when doing an evaluation of a state, it is important to look at it how it is NOW, not nearly two hundred years ago, or even fifty years ago. It is important to acknowledge these things, but it is equally important to put that aside when doing a modern look

50th in income,49th in life expectancy,49th in college attainment. It's in a terrible condition.

Also 1st in black population, many of them rural, and no federal government gravy train next door. There are historical inequalities that have yet to be made right, but sh**tting on the state and writing it off doesn't do a thing.

You know, I normally don't give woke answers like this, but quite honestly it might be able to be said that Mississippi's status is a s******* state is the fault of about 90% of the white people in that state.

Think about it. Other than maybe a decade or so of reconstruction, and then for another decade or two in the late 70s and 80s when blacks were at least somewhat adopted into the ruling Democratic party Coalition - - clearly is a junior member, but still - - Mississippi has been run by whites and, very importantly, for whites, for the last hundred fifty plus years it's sh**ty State of Affairs mentioned herein regarding poverty rates, education rights, Etc, are inordinately concentrated among its African-American residents. Let's be real clear that this was not coincidence. At all.

When one further considers that the best, and arguably only good parts of Mississippi culture, food and music, derive overwhelmingly from African American culture, I reiterate one can make the case that Mississippi is indeed a complete sh**tbag of a state, dead last when it comes to doing anything and everything right it seems, but again that can realistically the blame on the 90% of whites in that state who run it into the ground for a century and a half.

[Badger]

Someone sell me on MS because it's hard to find much to like about it. The topography is mostly flat and boring and the natural features/amenities seem lacking, there aren't really any nice suburbs or smaller cities to live in (unlike Alabama), things seem a bit rundown almost everywhere I look (even in the neighborhoods with larger yards and bigger houses), school quality is poor, few notable major employers, etc.

Mississippi is a sportsman's paradise - plenty of hunting (especially waterfowl along the MS River flyway), saltwater fishing and outdoor recreation to be had.  Some of my favorite times spent outdoors are kayaking the natural barrier islands (Cat, Ship, Petit Bois) in the MS Sound, which are the nearest naturally-occurring beaches to the mouth of the Mississippi River.  The state is only really "piney" in the southern half between Jackson and Hattiesburg.  In the northeastern corner of the state (where I'm from), you're in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and actually get some beautiful fall color.  Sure, it isn't mountain vistas or lush Cascade greenscapes, but there's natural beauty to be seen in MS (just like there is anywhere else.)

In terms of day-to-day livability, MS is not any worse than neighboring AL, GA (non-ATL) or LA (sans NOLA) - they're roughly comparable in terms of density, demographics and amenities.  Jackson is a fine-enough city; metro pop. of 540k (larger than metro Mobile or Huntsville, for comparison.)  We have breweries, distilleries and James Beard-awarded restaurants, organic grocers, and national luxury retail chains.  The college towns (Starkville and Oxford) are nice, diverse and well-educated.  I enjoy living here, and I've previously lived in D.C., Atlanta and short-term in the Bay Area.

Whether you realize it or not, your comparison of being no worse than Alabama, non Nola Louisiana, and Nan Atlanta metro Georgia, makes a strong case that Mississippi's an okay place to visit but not necessarily to live. I mean, your description of the kayaking in the rivers sounds pretty nice, but nothing that would appeal more than the Smokies, Ozarks, or even Ohio's Hocking Hills.

It's further sounds like, even ignoring the politics, less amenable parts of the culture, being near the bottom of nearly every quantifiable State measurement, that even then living anywhere in the state outside of Jackson or one of the two college towns is pretty undesirable. Which frankly has been my take on the state as well, meaning I literally can't picture what would ever get me to move to somewhere in Mississippi Beyond those areas, or maybe the Memphis suburbs.

Kind of surprised you didn't mention DeSoto County. I've been given the impression it has at least some of the same amenities as Jackson and the college towns. Not true?

[Badger]

Someone sell me on MS because it's hard to find much to like about it. The topography is mostly flat and boring and the natural features/amenities seem lacking, there aren't really any nice suburbs or smaller cities to live in (unlike Alabama), things seem a bit rundown almost everywhere I look (even in the neighborhoods with larger yards and bigger houses), school quality is poor, few notable major employers, etc.

Mississippi is a sportsman's paradise - plenty of hunting (especially waterfowl along the MS River flyway), saltwater fishing and outdoor recreation to be had.  Some of my favorite times spent outdoors are kayaking the natural barrier islands (Cat, Ship, Petit Bois) in the MS Sound, which are the nearest naturally-occurring beaches to the mouth of the Mississippi River.  The state is only really "piney" in the southern half between Jackson and Hattiesburg.  In the northeastern corner of the state (where I'm from), you're in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and actually get some beautiful fall color.  Sure, it isn't mountain vistas or lush Cascade greenscapes, but there's natural beauty to be seen in MS (just like there is anywhere else.)

In terms of day-to-day livability, MS is not any worse than neighboring AL, GA (non-ATL) or LA (sans NOLA) - they're roughly comparable in terms of density, demographics and amenities.  Jackson is a fine-enough city; metro pop. of 540k (larger than metro Mobile or Huntsville, for comparison.)  We have breweries, distilleries and James Beard-awarded restaurants, organic grocers, and national luxury retail chains.  The college towns (Starkville and Oxford) are nice, diverse and well-educated.  I enjoy living here, and I've previously lived in D.C., Atlanta and short-term in the Bay Area.

Whether you realize it or not, your comparison of being no worse than Alabama, non Nola Louisiana, and Nan Atlanta metro Georgia, makes a strong case that Mississippi's an okay place to visit but not necessarily to live. I mean, your description of the kayaking in the rivers sounds pretty nice, but nothing that would appeal more than the Smokies, Ozarks, or even Ohio's Hocking Hills.

It's further sounds like, even ignoring the politics, less amenable parts of the culture, being near the bottom of nearly every quantifiable State measurement, that even then living anywhere in the state outside of Jackson or one of the two college towns is pretty undesirable. Which frankly has been my take on the state as well, meaning I literally can't picture what would ever get me to move to somewhere in Mississippi Beyond those areas, or maybe the Memphis suburbs.

Kind of surprised you didn't mention DeSoto County. I've been given the impression it has at least some of the same amenities as Jackson and the college towns. Not true?

Living anywhere in Ohio outside the big cities and/or college towns would also be pretty undesirable and at least the MS Delta has good food and a cool music history, lol.  The main aspect of our 21st century "new economy" is near-universal urban/rural divergence.  MS ranks low because of its overwhelmingly rural (and Black) population.  The state's boundaries are pretty much an artificial construct at this point; an imaginary state that was similarly as rural as MS but took in, say, the RGV or New England's Northern Border region would be just as poor and undeveloped.  

DeSoto County doesn't really have a lot to offer.  All of the nice Memphis suburbs are in TN, and DeSoto is definitely more of a low-density, conservative exurb than an educated, socially moderate suburb.  The parts of the City of Memphis (Whitehaven) that abut DeSoto County are the poorest, most dangerous parts of the whole Mid-South region and some of that is now spilling over into the oldest neighborhoods in Southaven and Horn Lake.  DeSoto also has a knack for always voting en masse for the worst Republican candidate in GOP nominating contests (McDaniel, Foster, etc.), which I find especially annoying because of how populous it is (they post the 2nd- or 3rd- highest # of votes in the GOP primary) and how tangentially most of the residents there follow MS politics.    

I'm afraid you are assessment of Ohio's just plain misguided. Yes, there are absolutely rural areas of Ohio as amenity devoid and culturally foreboding to live in as Mississippi. trust me, I lived exactly such a community for a number of years, and my wife was born and raised there. It's exactly why we relocated to Central Ohio. However, where has like you said Jackson and the two major college town in Mississippi are pretty much the only worthwhile places to live, Ohio has numerous similarly-sized cities with similar amenities and suburbs. It's not just the big Triple C of Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, but what you wrote about Jackson could be said for pretty much every mid to large size Ohio city such as Toledo, Dayton, Akron, Canton, etc etc with only a few post-industrial Wasteland exceptions like Youngstown in Springfield. Plus we have significantly more than just two major college towns, even if Columbus is admittedly our major one. Once you include all those mid-sized cities that at least equal Jackson in those regards, plus all the various College cities, plus their surrounding like Delaware or lake counties, you're talkin about a significant portion if not the majority of the state. Unlike Mississippi where as you indicated Jackson and two college towns are basically the only Oasis of culture in and otherwise lower education rural Wasteland.

I get it that the low standards of living and education in Mississippi, like many Southern States, is disproportionately concentrated among its African-American residents, and further alluded to exactly that my prior assessment in this thread. I'm not sure what that supposed to prove, though. As I noted in my prior post, that outcome was hardly coincidental, and speaks volumes, all of it negative, about Mississippi's culture. Even assuming the questionable assumption that the standard of living, life spans, education, Etc even among Mississippi whites are comparable to National or Ohio norms, Again, even as a white person the fact that there's a Neo apartheid level of poverty , poor education, and lack of social Mobility foisted upon 40-plus percent of its population doesn't make me appreciate the state 1iota more. Trying to say that somehow doesn't count or the like, or should be considered like a subset of a state like the Rio Grande Valley for is missing the point because, at the end of the day, Mississippi is in fact one state, including the disproportionately poverty-stricken and underserved African-American population.

Thanks for the information about DeSoto County though. Again, I got the impression it was increasingly Tony and relatively educated suburb, even if it is obviously still overwhelmingly Republican. Good to know the truth from a ground eye level.

[Badger]

Someone sell me on MS because it's hard to find much to like about it. The topography is mostly flat and boring and the natural features/amenities seem lacking, there aren't really any nice suburbs or smaller cities to live in (unlike Alabama), things seem a bit rundown almost everywhere I look (even in the neighborhoods with larger yards and bigger houses), school quality is poor, few notable major employers, etc.

Just curious, while I totally agree with you about the largely boring topography from my traveling there, what nice suburbs in smaller cities are there in Alabama to speak of? I've heard some of the suburbs north of Birmingham are okay if you don't mind being surrounded by white mega church types in mcmansion communities, and Huntsville is supposed to be okay due to the large number of educated people there for the space program. Or maybe Tuscaloosa due to the presence of the University. However, my impression of Alabama was being only a shade better than Mississippi in being a largely rural Wasteland of demonstrable substandard education, Statewide metrics, or culture ( and while yes, like Mississippi, it had an undeniably huge impact on American Musical culture as a birthplace of the Blues a century ago, that's essentially irrelevant to living there today).

[Badger]

Someone sell me on MS because it's hard to find much to like about it. The topography is mostly flat and boring and the natural features/amenities seem lacking, there aren't really any nice suburbs or smaller cities to live in (unlike Alabama), things seem a bit rundown almost everywhere I look (even in the neighborhoods with larger yards and bigger houses), school quality is poor, few notable major employers, etc.

Just curious, while I totally agree with you about the largely boring topography from my traveling there, what nice suburbs in smaller cities are there in Alabama to speak of? I've heard some of the suburbs north of Birmingham are okay if you don't mind being surrounded by white mega church types in mcmansion communities, and Huntsville is supposed to be okay due to the large number of educated people there for the space program. Or maybe Tuscaloosa due to the presence of the University. However, my impression of Alabama was being only a shade better than Mississippi in being a largely rural Wasteland of demonstrable substandard education, Statewide metrics, or culture ( and while yes, like Mississippi, it had an undeniably huge impact on American Musical culture as a birthplace of the Blues a century ago, that's essentially irrelevant to living there today).

That sounds more like the Southern Birmingham suburbs (Mountain Brook, Hoover, Vestavia Hills, North Shelby County) than the Northern Birmingham suburbs to me.

You're right. I had my geography mixed up.